Chapter Text
January 16, 1989
Cairo, Egypt
El Tahrir
Maeno runs. She can’t see—she’s blinded by rage, determination, and purpose—so Deep Purple guides her through the street. As she dodges and weaves between pedestrians, she is reassured by one simple fact: Stand users are drawn to Stand users. She will find Jotaro, guaranteed.
When she opens her eyes, the scene in front of her is one that has only played out in nightmares. Jotaro stands at her right. Mr. Joestar lies on the ground in front of them, not even thirty meters away, his breathing labored and heavy. And beside him is the man that desires nothing less than total dominion over the world—DIO.
He’s a beautiful creature with thick eyelashes, flowing golden hair, plump lips, and a haunting voice. She understands how Kakyoin and Polnareff were taken in by his very presence. She feels the urgency that Avdol did when he fled from DIO through these same streets. For the briefest of moments, she’s filled with an indescribable agony upon seeing the person that seeks to snuff out the lives of everyone she cares about.
“Well, shall we wait for Polnareff?” DIO speaks. “It would be a pity to begin the festivities without him, would you not agree?” His deep voice reverberates through the air, aiming to send a familiar dread down Maeno’s spine. She shakes it off like water off a wet dog.
“He can stop time!” Maeno shouts immediately, before DIO can think to stop her. “DIO can stop time!”
DIO takes one calculated step towards her. “Is that what Kakyoin decided? Were those his final words?” He takes another. “Did he reveal his inference before he died—cold, wet, and alone?”
“Kakyoin is alive.” Maneo states with full confidence. “He promised me he wouldn’t die, and I made a promise, too. I promised I’d blast your head off.”
“I am shaking in my boots,” DIO says sarcastically.
“You should be. Jotaro and I have never lost a fight together.” She turns to Jotaro standing rigid at her side. “Kakyoin said that DIO’s Stand has power, speed, and range like Star Platinum. That puts us on a level playing field.”
Jotaro nods and mumbles, “The same type of Stand as Star Platinum…”
Maeno follows his line of sight to Mr. Joestar. It’s unclear what happened to him, with no gaping wounds or out-of-place limbs, but she can see the effort that he expends with every breath. The sooner they finish DIO, the sooner they can get Mr. Joestar to safety.
When Maeno takes a step forward to meet DIO in the street, Jotaro grabs her hand and yanks her back. Her gaze is fire. “What are you doing!?”
His is ice. “He can stop time, Maeno. You can’t defend against that.”
Her brow relaxes, and she smiles, huge and carefree and totally inappropriate for the situation. She doesn’t care. “I know I can’t, but if I can help you do it, that will be enough for me.”
He remains silent.
“Come on, Jotaro!” she chides. “This is where you say that no one’s dying!”
Jotaro looks to DIO—leaning back on his heels and waiting for their scuffle to end—then looks to his grandfather dying on the pavement. He lets go of her hand and turns away from her, voice cracking as he admits, “...You know damn well I don’t believe that, Maeno.”
Her face falls, and she looks down at her shoes, still sopping wet from the water tower where she left Kakyoin half-dead. “...Yeah, I guess I always knew you didn’t.”
It’s Jotaro’s turn to take a step forward. “If you really want to make sure no one dies, stay here with Gramps.” He still refuses to look at her. “He’s going to need a hell of a lot more protection than me.”
Two sides of her spirit clash. One is her pride, wanting nothing more than to end the one who has caused all her friends pain, than to finish DIO forever. The other is her compassion, wanting no one else to suffer, wanting to do everything she can to keep her loved ones from ever feeling despair.
Maeno decides. She takes a deep breath and summons her Stand. “I’ll listen to you just this once. You better win, Jotaro.”
He finally glances over his shoulder with softer eyes than she’s ever seen. “I plan on it.”
With incredible power, Jotaro strides forward to meet DIO head-on in battle. Their Stands’ fists fly, connecting one after another in an endless barrage. Power overflowing, Star Platinum and The World send each other, and their users, soaring into the air. While they are occupied, Maeno rushes to Mr. Joestar’s side and encases him in an air shield filled with a healthy, increased concentration of oxygen. His breathing improves. She turns her eyes back to the night sky and watches Star Platinum and The World exchange more blows. Even though DIO can stop time, Jotaro is somehow keeping up with him. He even manages a surprise attack that knocks DIO down onto a roof. Jotaro has a chance! He can do this!
Suddenly, Jotaro is surrounded by knives, and DIO has recovered like nothing had happened. She watches in horror as the blades stick into Jotaro’s head and chest, sending him plummeting to the streets below. At the same time, a singular blade appears to her left, just past her ear, and it slices off a chunk of her hair before popping her air shield and lodging itself in Mr. Joestar’s throat.
“JOTARO!” Maeno screams. As soon as his name leaves her lips, DIO appears in front of her with confidence and poise. Her fear refuses to settle in her heart; she has no space for any emotion besides unbridled fury.
“Step aside,” DIO coolly commands, "that I may claim Joseph Joestar’s blood and shed my remaining weakness.”
Maeno plants her feet on the ground and pulls her Stand around her like a cloak. “Never. I won’t let you get near him.” Her gaze is sharper than the knives DIO threw and hotter than a volcanic eruption.
“I knew a woman who gave me that very same look,” DIO says calmly. “Her name was Erina. I wonder: will you loathe me as deeply as she?”
Maeno shakes, ire overwhelming her to the point of madness. “Was she another you discarded on your conquest for power?”
He smiles but refuses to answer her.
“We met so many people on our journey,” she continues, “all who gave up their lives for you. They were people with loved ones, hopes, and dreams, and they died fighting for a god that would throw them away without a second thought.”
His smile widens. “You flatter me, Mimi.”
Hearing her nickname pass through his disgusting lips breaks her. “You’re nothing more than…a mosquito! A big, gross, nasty mosquito! You leech off of others and their blind faith in you.” She claps her hands together in front of her, and Deep Purple engulfs both of them in a fog. “I’m here to put all of that to an end. I will be the one to kill you, DIO, just like I promised.”
Kakyoin risked his life fighting DIO. Maeno can do the same.
The smoke condenses around them, yet DIO remains relaxed. This infuriates her even more. Maeno’s movements are frenzied, fists flying as she moves to close the distance between them. DIO smoothly dodges, bending around her haphazard attacks with ease. “Deep Purple!” she yells, and the Stand dips itself into DIO’s nostrils. “Contain!” All at once, the smoke retreats back into the jar, taking with it the air in DIO’s lungs. She slaps the lid onto the jar and cradles it into her chest, her death glare melting into something of a tired yet triumphant grin. “Gotcha.”
DIO’s eyebrows raise, and in the next instant, his right hand coils around her neck, and he lifts her into the air. “I have transcended humanity,” he utters. “I am no longer bound by the laws of this world. I have been chosen to rule it.”
Maeno reaches up and tries to pry his hand off of her. She kicks her legs. Nothing helps.
“You have one final chance to accept my previous offer. I will overlook your prior dissent if you pledge your loyalty. Even with Joseph Joestar’s blood, there is still much work to be done. I need allies I can trust.”
Deep Purple is contained in its jar. She can’t use it. She can’t do anything but hang there and hope for a miracle.
He loosens his grip slightly, allowing her a single breath of air. “Your decision?”
As she opens her mouth to declare her firm and final rejection, a gunshot sounds, and DIO drops her to the ground. He glares at the hole in his wrist, then to the direction of the shot. The single second of occupied attention provides the opening Maeno needs. She rips the lid off of the jar and screams, “MIRAGE!”
The smoke thickens, consuming both of them in an inescapable fog. It twists and shifts into human-like blobs, and a multitude of false Maenos ready themselves to attack from all sides, just like Kakyoin had done with his Emerald Splash.
“This is for everyone you manipulated!”
The first Maeno lunges. “For everyone who died fighting for you!”
The second follows. “For everyone you threw away!”
The third. “For all of my friends you tormented!”
The fourth. “For Iggy and Avdol!”
The fifth. “For Polnareff and Kakyoin!”
The sixth. “For Mr. Joestar and Jotaro!”
And the seventh—the Stand user that didn’t let fate choose her destiny, the seventh Stand user that carved her own path straight for DIO.
“And for me!!”
Deep Purple can detonate the hydrogen and oxygen particles in the air. Maeno had practiced controlling her blast when she trained with Avdol. This attack is anything but controlled. Maeno does not hold back. The explosion is point-blank and widespread, as big as she can make it. This is her only chance to finish DIO off.
The explosion fills her vision with bright white light, and searing pain threatens to melt her skin. She tries to pry her eyes open, to confirm that she destroyed DIO completely, but after the light clears, her vision darkens, and she can’t see anything. Is she… dying? As she feels herself being drawn into darkness, as her consciousness slips, her one consolation is that she did everything she could. She took fate into her own hands. She stood by her friends’ sides and helped when they needed her most.
The burning subsides, replaced by a familiar, cool relief. Maeno can accept her own death, because to her, she’s done enough.